Refuting Who Designed The Designer?

/ Prayson Daniel

By Prayson Daniel

†

In “Dangerous Richard Dawkins’ Ideas?” I explained how Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion central argument is fallacious namely charged with Non sequitur(Latin “it does not follow.”) Fallacy, that is even if we grant Richard Dawkins’ premises to be true, the conclusion does not follow from them.

In this article, I will go through Richard Dawkins’ statement(premise) three. It is the objection I countless receive in  my blog comments: Who Designed The Designer?(The God Delusion p. 157-8)

  1. One of the greatest challenges to the human intellect has been to explain how the complex, improbable appearance of design in the universe arises.
  2. The natural temptation is to attribute the appearance of design to actual design itself.
  3. The temptation is a false one because the designer hypothesis immediately raises the larger problem of who designed the designer.

Flaw in Statement 3

[I]n order to recognize an explanation as the best, one needn’t have an explanation of the explanation. This is an elementary point concerning inference to the best explanation as practiced in the philosophy of science.

If archaeologists digging in the earth were to discover things looking like arrowheads and hatchet heads and pottery shards, they would be justified in inferring that these artifacts are not the chance result of sedimentation and metamorphosis, but products of some unknown group of people, even though they had no explanation of who these people were or where they came from. Similarly, if astronauts were to come upon a pile of machinery on the back side of the moon, they would be justified in inferring that it was the product of intelligent, extra-terrestrial agents, even if they had no idea whatsoever who these extra-terrestrial agents were or how they got there. In order to recognize an explanation as the best, one needn’t be able to explain the explanation. In fact, so requiring would lead to an infinite regress of explanations, so that nothing could ever be explained and science would be destroyed. So in the case at hand, in order to recognize that intelligent design is the best explanation of the appearance of design in the universe, one needn’t be able to explain the designer.~William Lane Craig

Who Designed The Designer?

Who created the Christian’s God? I will answer this question in two ways: One according to the Christian Historical understand of who God is, namely Biblical Explanation(Biblical Theology) and two; according to Philosophical Reasoning namely Natural Theology.

One: Biblical Theology

In this article, I treated the Bible, as collection of 66 different books written by at least 40 authors, in duration of approximately 1500 years  and in three languages – Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek as any other ancient writings(thus I do not assume inspiration), to draw out what these monotheistic kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, scholars believed who God is:

Timelessness of God:

  • In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1)
  • No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. (1 Corinthians 2:7)
  • This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time (2 Timothy 1:9)
  • The hope of eternal life, which God who never lies, promised before the beginning of time (Titus 1:2)
  • To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 1:25)

To this, a christian apologist, Justin Martyr( A.D 103–165),  , in Hortatory Address to the Greeks questioned where did Plato get the idea that time was created constantly with the universe if not from already existing writings of  Moses:

“And from what source did Plato draw the information that time was created along with the heavens? For he wrote thus: “Time, accordingly, was created along with the heavens; in order that, coming into being together, they might also be together dissolved, if ever their dissolution should take place.” Had he not learned this from the divine history of Moses?”1

According to the books(The Bible) authors, God is understood as timeless, this truth is also expressed in different terms as “from everlasting to everlasting”(Psalm 90:2 and Job 36:26), First and Last, Alpha and Omega(Revelation 1:8 cf 4:8)

for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
(Isaiah 46:9-10 ESV)

Only a being that is not bound by time can declare the end from the beginning”creation”. Thus these authors understood God to be timeless.

Immutability of God

According to the Biblical authors, God is unchanging in his being, perfections, purpose, and promises.

Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you will remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
but you are the same, and your years have no end.
(Psalm 102:25-27 ESV)

“For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. (Malachi 3:6 ESV)

Therefore God is viewed by this authors as changeless in respect to his being that is the timeless, changeless being that created time, matter and space.

God is Who He is(Exist necessarily):

In  Yetsi’at Mitzrayim(“the exit from Egypt” Exodus c. 1260/1446 B.C) writings a figure known as Moses(Jewish prince of Egypt, shepherd, prophet) as God, what shall I say You are?:

Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:13-14 ESV)

Hebrew Ehyeh asher ehyeh (I am Who I am) God exist because of his nature of existence. This truth leads us to Philosophical theology.

Two: Natural Theology

From the Kalam Argument

1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause.
2. The universe began to exist.
3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.

A cause of the universe(of space and time) must possess these following attributes,

  1. It must transcend space and time and therefore exist timelessly and non-spatially (at least without the universe) because anything that is timeless must also be unchanging.
  2. This transcendent cause must  be changeless and immaterial because anything that is changeless must be non-physical and immaterial(Note: Materials constantly change at the molecular and atomic levels)

Objection: If Everything that begins to exist has a cause. Who Cause God?

As we have survey on the Biblical Theology, God is understood as a being that never began to exist, thus needs no cause. The argument argue for Everything that begins to exist has a cause, not everything that exist.

If God is timeless and changeless(thus immaterial and spaceless) then He can not be created, or design. He simply exist necessary by respect of his own nature.

1. Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence, either in the necessity of its own nature or in an external cause.”(Premise of On Contingency Cosmological Argument)

According to premise 1, there are two kinds of things: things which exist necessarily and things which are produced by some external cause. Let me explain.

Things that exist necessarily exist by a necessity of their own nature. It’s impossible for them not to exist. Many mathematicians think that numbers, sets, and other mathematical entities exist in this way. They’re not caused to exist by something else; they just exist necessarily.~William Lane Craig

This truth is farther covered in Natural Theology; The Cosmological Argument from Contingency.

In the Study of Physic,  matter and time and space must all occur together, thus before the universe came to exist, there was no time, at least not in the sense of a succession of moments one after another, no space, no material.

The cause of the universe(time, space and material) must posses timeless, spaceless, and immaterial attributed. This cause is what Biblical Christians understand as God.

Summary:

Question: Who Design the Designer?

Answer: None, Designer exist necessary because of its(His) nature.

A being which is timeless, spaceless and immaterial  is not created, nor design.

Note: biblion Greek for Book is a collection of history of Israel, and the spreading of the believe of Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Christ. Therefore,

1. Justin Martyr. Hortatory Address to the Greeks, Chapter 33. Quoted from Plato’s Timaeus Part 1.

2 thoughts on “Refuting Who Designed The Designer?”

  1. Interesting to see how faith and reasoning mix together! Given your background, how would you see alternate views of Christ in other faiths such as this one?

    Youtube Video

    Is it too controversial or do you find any familiarities to what you personally believe regarding Christ?

    Best wishes & happy holidays

    • Islam denial of the death of Jesus and Him being worshiped as God(which rose over 600 years later life of Jesus on Earth)is “too controversial” with Historically multiple recorded evidence:

      Surah 4:157-158 , “. . . they [the Jews] said (in boast), ‘We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah’ – But they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not – Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself . . . .”(Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an, Tenth Ed. (Beltsville, MD: Amana, 1999), 235-36.)

      Historians has a reason to grant that Jesus really died on the Cross and his follower believe he rose again and that He was worshiped Because:

      1: Multiple attestation – if the fact about X is asserted by two or more sources, then the fact is likely authentic.

      Historical Accounts Outside the Bible and Church Fathers(between 30-600):

      Plinius Secundus, governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor letter in AD 112 to Emperor Trajan, reads:

      “It is a rule, Sir, which I inviolably observe, to refer myself to you in all my doubts; for who is more capable of guiding my uncertainty or informing my ignorance?” Having never been present at any trials of the Christians, I am unacquainted with the method and limits to be observed either in examining or punishing them …In the meanwhile, the method I have observed towards those who have been denounced to me as Christians is this: I interrogated them whether they were Christians; if they confessed it I repeated the question twice again, adding the threat of capital punishment; if they still persevered, I ordered them to be executed …Those who denied they were, or had ever been, Christians, who repeated after me an invocation to the Gods, and offered adoration, with wine and frankincense, to your image, which I had ordered to be brought for that purpose, together with those of the Gods, and who finally cursed Christ none of which acts, it is said, those who are really Christians can be forced into performing these I thought it proper to discharge …They affirmed, however, the whole of their guilt, or their error, was, that they were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food but food of an ordinary and innocent kind … I therefore adjourned the proceedings, and betook myself at once to your counsel. For the matter seemed to me well worth referring to you, especially considering the numbers endangered. Persons of all ranks and ages, and of both sexes are, and will be, involved in the prosecution.” (Pliny, Epistles 10.96)

      In short, Plinius asks advice from Trajan on what to do with Christians who are worshiping Jesus as God and taking the Lords Supper, less than 80 years of Jesus death. Myth usually take between two to three generation to be formed but here we have a period to which some of the people who were present at Jesus time were still alive(same generation).

      Suetonius A.D 120 in Life of Nero(xvi.2)

      “Punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men addicted to a novel and mischievous superstitions”

      Cornelius Tacitus, great Roman historian write history of the reign of Nero A.D. 54-68:

      “Therefore, to scotch the rumor Nero substituted as culprits, and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men, loathed for their vices, whom the crowd styled Christians. Christus, the founder of the name, had undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilatus, and the pernicious superstition was checked for a moment, only to break out once more, not merely in Judea, the home of the disease, but in the capital itself, where all things horrible or shameful in the world collect and find a vogue … “They (Christians) were covered with wild beasts’ skins and torn to death by dogs; or they were fastened on crosses, and, when daylight failed were burned to serve as lamps by night. Nero had offered his gardens for the spectacle, and gave an exhibition in his circus, mixing with the crowd in the habit of a charioteer, or mounted on his car. Hence, in spite of a guilt which had earned the most exemplary punishment, there arose a sentiment of pity, due to the impression that they were being sacrificed not for the welfare of the state but to the ferocity of a single man.” (Tacitus, Annals, Loeb edition 15. 44, words in brackets added.)

      Flavius Joesphus (lived 37 A.D. – 100 A.D.) writes:

      “Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod’s army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist; for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for that the washing [with water] would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to the putting away, [or the remission] of some sins [only,] but for the purification of the body; supposing still that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness.
      Now, when many others came to crowd about him, for they were greatly moved by hearing his words, Herod, who feared lest the great influence of John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise,) thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not to bring himself into difficulties, by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it should be too late.” (Antiquities of the Jews, book eighteen, chapter five, paragraph two)

      Thus, we have Historical evidences before 600(Start of Islam) that contradict Islams truths.

      2. Embarrassment – if a fact is embarrassing to X or X’s community or the writers of the biography of X, then it is likely authentic.

      Death on the cross is an embarrassing death to which one will calm his leader died If it were not true.

      Same part of Quran’s passages seem to declare that Christ Jesus, did indeed die Sura 3:33,55; 5:117, 19:33

      Quran affirms sinless character of Jesus(Sura 19:17-19), A truth that was not attributed even to its founder Mohammad(Sura 9:43; 40:55;47:19; 48:2;294:1-3)(or any other Biblical prophet 1 John 1:8, Romans 3:23)

      If Jesus was what he was, said what he said, and did what he did, then Jesus is more than a prophet, more than a good teacher, more that a mere man.

      I will like to know you view on Historical records about Jesus and Islam truth.

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